Must be nice to be a team in a city where players want to go play.
We've signed top free agents three times in 5 years....
Three B-level stars. Still no cases of "the best of the best" wanting to play for Boston.
How many times have A) your so-called "the best of the best" been available & B) the Celtics have had cap space at that time to acquire them?
Durant was available and didn't choose Boston.
So, one guy. Once.
Small sample size, but not meaningless.
There was also AD making it clear he did NOT want to go to Boston, and that if he were traded to Boston, he would NOT stay with the Celtics beyond the time left on his deal.
And I'm not sure if we ever got a public declaration from Leonard or LeBron about Boston as a potential destination, but they at least made it clear by their actions that they preferred L.A. over Boston.
So, it seems to me that in the minds of the NBA's elite, Boston is an also-ran.
Second- and third-tier stars will come here because the Celtics have a good culture, a respected coach, and hey, Boston has to spend their money on someone, right?
This is one big reason why Tatum needs to become a legit top-5 player, because those players aren't choosing to come here.
So because one guy wants to go to L.A so badly it means Boston doesn't attract stars? I think you're jumping to conclusions. Besides, Durant joined a team that was in the finals that year of course that trumps any team's offer.
Okay, so this is turning out to be more complicated than I thought it would be.
All I'm saying ...
is that, based on public comments, and to the best of my knowledge, great players aren't clamoring to play in Boston.
And when I say "great," that's exactly what I mean: the elite. Hayward, Horford, and Kemba are very good players, but they're not tier-one players; I think that's obvious. Or at least it should be.
I wasn't saying that Oladipo is tier-one. Nor was I saying that Oladipo is better than Horford, Hayward, or Kemba.
It's simply the case that when I read Oladipo's comment, I thought, "Oh, another player who wants to go to Miami; I wish more players expressed a desire to play in Boston above all other locations," as there have been quite a few notable players in recent years who stated a desire to play in Miami or L.A.
That's all I was saying.